Monday, 12 September 2016

This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab

Title: This Savage SongAuthor: Victoria SchwabSeries: Monsters of Verity #2Source: Publisher (Edelweiss)Publisher: Greenwillow BooksRelease Date: July 5th 2016No. of Pages: 464There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.-(Goodreads)

4 stars

There is something quite extraordinary about V.E. Schwab’s novel, This Savage Song, and I would accuse its
ability to be absolutely ruthless and yet utterly entrancing of being the
reason. It’s a strange chord of gore and eloquent prose that is absolutely
satisfying, and I can’t help but want to demand that all dystopian and fantasy
novels are written in the exact same way.

Undeniably, This
Savage Song’s defining element is its rich, rich writing. Schwab hits on the head exactly the kind
of writing that needs to be included in YA novels, particularly those that veer
more towards action and adventure plots. Contemporary novels often require
liberal amounts of description to get across the emotional focus of the story
and this should apply to all other genres too. Many times, I don’t feel there
has been any heavy investment in building upon imagery and emotions or that the
author has forgone the use of their brilliant linguistic skills in favour of a
fast pace and some suspense. To me, this is an absolute shame because it’s when
you combine all these elements that you get gems like This Savage Song.

The bottom line is, skilful prose can make or break a novel,
and for me it’s inclusion definitely makes it. Yet the most intriguing part is
the way the lovely intricacies in Schwab’s writing offset the violence and
carnage, and surprisingly compliment each other. This is a book who’s contents
support it’s title; it is savage, and I love that. Though I didn’t find myself
being too impressed by the plot or the characters (don’t get me wrong, they
were both great, I just didn’t have my mind blow by them) I did adore the moral
ambiguity, the perpetual grey that invaded the scenes. Everything was as murky
and harsh as the city itself, and for me this created a really great atmosphere
to continue that melding of good and evil throughout the story.

If there is one thing I know, it’s that This Savage Song
will be a perpetual itch in my mind until I read its sequel, and for that I
have to applaud V.E. Schwab for her epic tale.